The invention pertains to apparatus for creating, very easily and simply, a removable, temporary protective canopy or shroud over food or some other article. A preferred embodiment, and several modifications, of the invention are specifically described herein in conjunction with covering food articles, an area of use wherein the invention has been found to offer particular utility. Those skilled in the art will recognize, from considering the food environment discussed herein, how the invention can readily be adapted for use in other settings.
As most people will know, there are many instances relating to preparing, serving, or otherwise working with food, where it is desirable to place a protective shroud or canopy over one or more selected food articles, and very preferably, to do this in a fashion which is quick, easy, effective, inexpensive, removable, and in fact, xe2x80x9cthrow-awayxe2x80x9d so-to-speak. It may also be desirable, and often is, to provide such a temporary protective canopy which one can see through so as to be able to identify quickly and clearly just what it is that is beneath the protective covering.
In many instances, the article of food covered will either be free-standing (such as a cake), or held in a dish, and placed out in the open, for example, in a kitchen. In other instances, such food may be placed in a more closed environment, such as in a refrigerator, or a microwave oven.
The present invention, in several different and very useful embodiments which are disclosed herein, addresses each of these several conditions and environments in a simple, inexpensive and practical manner.
Proposed according to a preferred embodiment of the invention is what can be thought of as a user system or kit containing, fundamentally, two, and in one modification three, different cooperative canopy-structure articles that coact according to the invention to create the mentioned kind of temporary canopy. According to this embodiment of the system, and particularly in relation to the two-article variety of the system, packaged and provided to the user are system components including (1) a plurality of pre-sized, clear, plastic, very flexible canopy sheets, along with (2) an appropriately numbered collection of elongate, slender, springy, but plastically bendable and deformable, support ribs which can be employed to support these sheets in an elevated, vaulting and arched condition over an article to be covered. The material making up the ribs, preferably, can selectively be bent quite significantly, and without breaking, so as to form a plastically deformed (but with retained elasticity), configurationally stable arch whose opposite ends may be supported in any suitable manner (to be described below). The plastic sheets which are preferably employed (other materials are possible as well), and the ribs, are made of very low-cost, easily manufactured and packaged, readily throwaway materials. Also, the sheets in the system are preferably formed of a transparent material so that a user can easily see that which is covered when the sheets are put to use. Further, the materials selected for the sheets and ribs are preferably usable in, and compatible with, both the refrigerator and the microwave-oven environments mentioned above.
According to various modifications of the system of the invention, the sheet and rib elements thereof may be suitably stored in dispensing packaging, either (a) as individual elements, (b) as compacted coils of elements, or (c) in other manners. Coiled elements can conveniently be drawn (paid) out through suitable package openings, and can be prepared, during manufacture, with pre-placed notches, perforations, etc. that enable quick and easy separation into usable components having defined unit lengths and sizes, or multiples of such lengths and sizes. The sheets preferably have four-sided, rectilinear perimetral outlines, and the ribs preferably have lengths which are substantially the same as one of the side lengths of the sheets.
While in the most simple form of the invention the sheets and ribs may begin their xe2x80x9clivesxe2x80x9d, so-to-speak, as initially separated (individuated) items, certain modifications of the invention feature constructions wherein the sheet canopy material is furnished with elongate, tubular loops or sleeves for receiving and containing one or more ribs. Such loops or sleeves may be preconstructed to hold xe2x80x9ccapturedxe2x80x9d ribs, or they may be appropriately open to receive user-inserted ribs.
Transparency in the sheet material, while not a necessary feature of the invention, is nonetheless a feature which many users will consider to be an important convenience. Also, it is not a requirement of the invention that either or both of the two fundamental constituents (sheets and ribs) of the invention be made of throw-away materials. They could, for example, be made of materials that can easily and safely (from the standpoint of food contamination issues) be capable of being re-used and re-stored for many later uses. Further, and, preferably, such materials can confidently be used without fear of their contaminating food articles.
These and other objects and advantages which are attained by the invention will become more fully apparent as the description that now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.